The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has commenced a nationwide accreditation exercise that will determine which Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres will be cleared to conduct the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), with a total of 1,039 centres expected to be approved.
The Registrar of the examination body, Professor Is’haq Oloyede, disclosed this development on Wednesday during an inspection tour of CBT facilities in Ilorin, Kwara State. According to him, the exercise forms part of JAMB’s annual quality assurance process aimed at preserving the integrity of the country’s tertiary admission examinations.
Professor Oloyede explained that no fewer than 52 accreditation teams had been deployed across the federation to either revalidate existing CBT centres or withdraw approval from facilities that no longer meet the board’s operational and ethical benchmarks.
He stressed that accreditation is not permanent and that centres approved in previous years must undergo fresh evaluations to retain their status. “Approval is not transferable from one year to another. A centre that qualified last year must still prove it is fit this year,” the registrar stated.
Providing an update on the exercise, Oloyede described the process as largely successful so far, noting that only a handful of previously sanctioned centres had attempted to re-enter the system under different identities.
He revealed that some centres penalised for examination malpractice in previous UTME exercises had attempted to rebrand or relocate. However, he assured that strengthened inter-agency collaboration had significantly reduced such risks.
According to him, JAMB has intensified its partnership with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to block individuals associated with blacklisted CBT centres from resurfacing elsewhere. “Once you are listed as a director of a failed or delisted centre, you cannot simply open another one elsewhere. We now have access to detailed records, including National Identification Numbers, to enforce this,” he said.
The registrar further disclosed that invigilators, supervisors, and technical staff previously implicated in examination malpractice have also been permanently barred from participating in future UTME exercises.
“All such individuals have their NINs flagged in our system. Any centre that attempts to engage them automatically disqualifies itself,” Oloyede warned.
In a further clampdown, JAMB has also permanently disabled computer systems previously used by centres removed from its approved list. Oloyede explained that such devices remain barred from accessing JAMB’s examination platform, even if resold to other operators.
“Once a system is linked to a delisted centre, it is blacklisted permanently. It cannot be recycled into another centre under any circumstances,” he said.
He added that the board had uncovered a few compliance breaches during the ongoing exercise and had invited security agencies to investigate. According to him, such violations constitute not only infractions against JAMB regulations but also breaches of Nigerian law.
Speaking on the technical requirements for accreditation, the Chief Technical Adviser to the Kwara State accreditation team, Professor Veronica Mejabi, explained that centres are assessed based on both infrastructural and operational standards.
She noted that the most critical requirement is adherence to JAMB’s prescribed network architecture, which ensures seamless connectivity and rapid fault resolution during examinations.
Other mandatory provisions include reliable alternative power sources such as generators and inverters, while soft requirements cover candidate waiting areas, sufficient toilet facilities, and functional CCTV surveillance systems.
Also speaking during the inspection, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Professor Wahab Egbewole (SAN), who headed one of the validation teams, issued a stern warning to prospective UTME candidates.
“Examination malpractice is no longer worth the risk. If you cheat, you will be detected, and the consequences are final,” he cautioned.
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